The Meeting in a Minute: A Roundup of the Neighborhood Council Meeting

Here are some highlights from Wednesday's three-hour Encino Neighborhood Council general meeting:

Announcements from the councilman’s office

Shawn Bayliss from City Councilman Paul Koretz’s office announced that the housing project on Ventura Boulevard called (formerly known as "Gold Mountain") “has drawn a lot of concern from the community” and he’s been working with the developer to change the paint color. The building is currently gray with red, blue and yellow boxes.

“They are thinking of color schemes of varying shades of white or taking inspiration from the Mercedes dealership across the street with varying shades of gray and charcoal,” Bayliss said.

Field Deputy Jeff Ebenstein also announced that there will be a town hall meeting today (Thursday) from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the John Thomas Dye School, 11414 Chalon Road, Los Angeles. Koretz will be talking about upcoming budget hearings and the measures on the city's March 8 primary nominating ballot.

Mirman School can have a taller fence

There was a motion to support the Mirman School’s request for a height adjustment to allow an 8-foot chain-link fence in the front yard and a 10-foot fence in the back and side to keep balls inside the fence. Treasurer Michael Kaufman recused himself and left the room. The motion passed, with 15 in favor and 1 abstention.

Proposed architectural design guidelines get shut down

Gerry Silver presented a motion, seconded by John Arnstein, that the ENC prepare a set of voluntary Architectural Design Guidelines for Ventura Blvd in Encino. "These standards should consider architectural design features common to Santa Barbara Mission or Tuscan Villa style architecture or other architectural styles compatible with existing Ventura Blvd structures."

This is presumably a reaction to the Legado Encino project, which was supposed to be a Mediterranean-style complex and is now an art deco building . Sherman Gamson said he objected to the motion, followed by Michael Kaufman, who explained at length about why he also disagreed.

Kaufman said nearly 45,000 people live in Encino, of which only 60 called the Encino Neighborhood Council and five called the councilman’s office with complaints. He called that tiny percentage of the community's population very vocal “self-appointed guardians of good taste.”

Two speakers from the audience, including Kaufman’s wife, said they too strongly disagreed with the motion and didn’t want to see permanent architectural design standards for Ventura Boulevard in Encino.

Ken Silk moved to take the item back to the Planning and Land Use Committee. That motion passed, with 10 in favor, 5 opposed and 2 abstentions.

Café Carolina gets backing for beer and wine license

The family-run restaurant at 17934 Ventura Blvd., is being expanded and remodeled with a new seating capacity of 51 occupants from the original 30. The owners are also hoping to add beer and wine to the menu. There was a motion to approve the request for a beer and wine license.

Gerry Silver objected and mentioned there is an . Other council members argued that not allowing the liquor license would put Café Carolina at a competitive disadvantage. The motion passed.

Neighbor barks about noisy dogs

There was a presentation on behalf of a pet grooming and boarding facility at 17401 W. Ventura Blvd., Suite A-7. A 1,800-square-foot business was proposed at the Encino Courtyard shopping center, for which a variance was sought to allow boarding of dogs and cats. However, owners planned to use a Web cam, rather than an employee, to watch the animals during nonbusiness hours.

Planning and Land Use Committee Chair Diane Rosen said the neighbors had been notified and moved to approve the project as proposed. Kaufman seconded it.

But a man who lives directly behind the center said the barking and yelping of unsupervised pets overnight would be a nuisance. “I truly feel that that would impinge on our ownership of a house,” he said.

The motion was defeated with 4 in favor, 7 opposed and 5 abstentions.

March food drive

The Encino Neighborhood Council will be hosting a food drive in March for the Food Pantry. The local pantry feeds about 20 families every month. There will be a drop-off bin at the Encino Community Center and the pantry is in need peanut butter, canned fruit, raisins, spaghetti sauce, jam, dry milk, cereal and canned chicken.

Eric Garcetti drops in to speak, hold Q&A

Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti was the guest speaker at the ENC meeting. Garcetti, who was born and raised in Encino, said he was glad to be back on “home turf.” A more detailed report of his speech and Q&A session can be read .

Four Encino schools to receive education grants

Karen Henderson, a representative of the Education Committee, announced that the committee has selected four local public schools to receive grants of up to $1,500 based on their application submissions. Those schools are Birmingham Community Charter High School, Lanai Road Elementary School, Nestle Elementary School in Tarzana and Hesby Oaks.

Please Note:  "The Meeting in a Minute" is an unofficial record of the Encino Neighborhood Council meeting. The official record of the meeting is the minutes once approved by the ENC Board.